Ruin & Casualty: a written account of the Pokewar
by Fudge That
Summary: Has it ever occurred to you why the pokemon world is such a matriarchal society. Teenage and middle-aged men are few and far between, with the exception of a few powerful trainers. The following series of reports, interviews and survivor stories tells the tale of the very first, generation killing Pokewar that swept the globe.
1. Prologue

It goes by many names: "The Dark Years", "Pokewar I" as well as more simple names, such as "The Great War". It was the worst time in human and pokemon history, in which large quantities of continents, people and pokemon were completely decimated.

While PokeWar has taken place over the centuries, stretching back to feudal times were trainers would make a link with wild pokemon and battled other warlords for dominance of their territory, The Great War has caused the largest loss of life ever recorded. Professors attribute this to leaps in technology and science which has allowed mankind to wield power over large quantities of pokemon using the advancement of the pokeball, and heal them in virtually seconds.

Not many remember why the regions went to war, economic and socio-political theorists still debate whether it was for land, fossil fuels or for foreign pokemon not native to the region which would bolster their ranks and weapons.

Regardless of the reason to the war the consequences were dire. The male population was destroyed in many regions, particularly Kanto, with post-war time statistics showing only 30% of men pulling surviving the battles that ravaged the region. Only boys, who were too young at the time to be drafted into the army and elderly males remained.

Many blame the regions governments for re-establishing conscription at the time, others fault dropping the conscription age to 16.

Other effects include the passing of the 'The Youth Trainer Initiative'. Spearheaded in Kanto by Agatha, Oak et al., the papers suggested that during peace time the legal age for acquiring a trainer licence should be dropped to 10, to combat the increasing pokemon population and to protect town borders. This strategy outlined in the research papers were implemented across all nations by 1963.

And while still denied wholeheartedly, due to lack of evidence, there has been a link between the rise of organised crime and the Dark Years. Psychologists and Sociologists have written an abundance of studies which outline the possibly rise of groups such as Team Rocket, Team Magma and Team Galactic.

This written account of survivor stories, research papers and interviews is the culmination of 50 years of work by various historians, writers and journalists. Since the 'Indigo Treaty' acknowledged peace across all regions, open lines of communication and access to trainers and immigrants across borders, all information has now been gathered and joint together to make the first completed report of the loss of life across all nations.


	2. Interview - Professor Hughes

**Professor Samantha Hughes, PhD., M.D. & Professor of History in the University of Canalave.**

_February 12th 1990__ - Mr. Alex Whitehall (journalist and interviewer)_

_Professor Hughes, wide set and in her early forties, wears her brown hair short falling just below her jaw line. Flustered she lets me into her office and offers me a refreshment, to which I decline. Her office is modest, a simple desk cluttered with papers, books and a mug. She picks up what appears to be student essays from the chair across from the desk and offers me a seat._

**Professor Hughes pleasure to finally put a name to a voice, thanks for having me.**

Oh think nothing of it, any excuse to talk about the past and please call me Samantha.

**Ok, Samantha could you please enlighten me on the events that led up to the war.**

Oh where to begin, well 'Pokewar' as it's been coined, goes back to when the regions weren't unified states but territories or kingdoms ruled by a warlord. This warlord was in most cases a warrior who had 'linked'1 with a pokemon, since pokeballs as we know them today weren't invented. These warlords were tasked with defending their fiefdom from other warlords and their armies or if they wanted to increase their borders, they'd siege and capture another kingdom. Capturing other territories had many benefits, increased land and taxes making the warlord wealthier and access to the territories native pokemon and population of potential warriors.

**So it could be argued that it was in a leaders best interests to wage war.**

Yes, precisely. Anyway, during this feudal age warriors who had linked with pokemon were extremely few and far between, making them a valuable commodity due to the destructive abilities of their pokemon partners. The more talented and skilled the soldier, the more pokemon he was able to link with. Records even show that a warlord called Nobunaga linked with an unprecedented 6 pokemon and took over half of the territories in his region before the remaining territories rallied together and drove him back. Since no evidence was found indicating that any warlord linked with more than 6 pokemon at one time, 6 became the universal number of pokemon allowed to battle when pokebattling rules were constituted in 1809.

**So the human and pokemon races were no strangers to war or violence? **

[She nods, confirming my question]. Now skip forward a couple of centuries, kingdoms and warlords are a thing of the past, regions and cities have formed and the country is governed by an elected party. The world hasn't seen battle since warlords have become gym leaders and the new trend of training pokemon is the latest way to show power and status. Of course this was a more ethical and nonlethal bravado to show military might to other regions, you have a champion who can wield a pokemon who can level a city single handily and people are going to have second thoughts about invading your country. This is partly the reason Kanto and Johto share a league, elite 4 and champion. Initially the Indigo Plateau was suppose to act as a treaty and sign of friendship but ended up having political connotations, depending on which region the champion was native to it showed the other region who was the superpower at a given time. Many believe this was the first step in starting the war.

**What was the next step?**

No one knows how the war began per say but it is believed to have begun for a few reasons, firstly the technology race. The apricot, an indigenous plant found in Johto, was the precursor to the pokeball. When the potential of apricots in capturing pokemon was discovered Johto had a natural edge over their enemies, however in peacetime a limited number of apricots were used in trade making Johto the wealthiest regions in the mid 1700's and kick started the industrial revolution.

Between roughly 1760 and 1822 the world experienced an unprecedented period of sustained population growth. The human population grew in size and the ability to capture pokemon led to leaps and bounds in industry. Textile looms working with mareep wool provided clothing, fire types generated power, metallurgy was discovered along with steel types which resulted in new machinery being produced and further mining and excavation. Even chemicals came to the fore in this period. This type of economic behaviour was never seen before. But it came at a cost.

**Which was? **

The cost I'm referring of can be divided in two. [She puts her palms together and splits them, leaving her palms facing the ceiling, she raises the left hand]. Cost one, the pokemon race took a hard hit, we reduced the numbers of pokemon native to areas where textiles were built. Also by the large scale capturing of pokemon humans limited the breeding pool available for pokemon, which resulted in them expanding the species of potential mates, but that is another story.

[She raises her right hand]. More relevantly to the subject matter was the result of this new found power to create machinery and dig for rare minerals created a technology race for who can create a better pokeball, train, ship and eventually gun.

**So why didn't the war take place earlier then? In the 1800's and not in the next century, like it did?**

Ah! You see as the population grew, countries found it increasingly difficult to keep their citizens fed and housed, thus colonisation was born. In 1893, the Orre region was an experiment by the Hoennian government to create a new region of cities and towns for their rapidly expanding population, and to extract more resources as an extra bonus. Following this success the Fiore, Oblivia and Almia regions were constructed by Kanto, Sinnoh and Johto initiatives respectively.

At first a commercial success it soon became home to disaster . Eventually the native pokemon, which are far larger in number and exceedingly more powerful than the 4 countries, grew restless and decimated whole towns and cities. Even with the presence of trainers and weapons. This cost governments a great deal in resources, manpower etc. and forced them to look closer to home to maintain such a high level of growth. But more importantly due to the sheer power of the wild pokemon they encountered made them look to growing their own pokemon further as weapons.

In the end all 4 regions looking towards each other once again. The Sevii islands were snatched up within a week. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh all saw potential for capital in the others resources: Mt. Silver, Cerulean Cave, Iron island, Oreburgh, Meteor Falls all became the prizes of victory. And this was only 1921! The war didn't officially begin for 18 more years.

**What happened over those 18 years?**

18 years is a long time, that is 216 months of planning, regenerating the manpower lost during the desctruction2 .So between this time all countries remained at a standstill, a cold war, a semi-veiled concept of mutually assured destruction. That is until Kanto made the first move, September 1st 1939 is the official date according to records, when Kanto invaded Johto and it all began.

1. Linking refers to establishing a connection between a human and pokemon without the medium of a pokeball. Most commonly occurred pre-pokeball, linking connects the pokemon to the human and vice-versa making them partners. Though it is claimed that a link can be made stronger no quantifiable evidence supports this claim.

2. The destruction became the name for the initial loss of the Orre, Fiore, Almia and Oblivia regions. Some of these regions were later rebuilt by a joint effort of countries, but others remained too heavily infested with wild pokemon simply making them a challenge for powerful trainers.


End file.
